It is great achievement for one of the Philippine’s best national player in recent years. Mamiit has done his part for the country by winning four gold, six silver and five bronze medals in his several stints at the SEA Games. He also won two bronze medals at the Asian Games and he lead the Philippines to Davis Group I after languishing in lower divisions before he came. Another big impact on Cecil’s arrival is that not he improved the games of the locals but he has opened doors for Fil-Americans to represent the country. He has done his part and he will surely be a big asset for the country in the coming years as a coach or a consultant. Good job, Cecil!

Russian Maria Sharapova easily defeated Italian Sara Errani, 6-3, 6-2, in another anti-climactic Women’s final at the French Open to complete a career grand slam. Not only that she will the No. 1-ranked WTA player when the next ranking are released. The last time Sharapova was No.1 was 4 years ago.

A shoulder injury almost ended her career a few years ago. At one point she was ranked 126th in the world. Her comeback is complete as she finally captured the elusive trophy at Roland Garros. In 2004 as a 17 year old lass, Sharapova had a sort of coming out party after making it through the quarterfinals at French Open. A month later, she won her first grand slam title at Wimbledon. After 2 years, she won the US Open and in 2008, she captured the Australian Open. Now it comes to a full circle as she won in red clays of France to become the 10th woman to complete a career grand slam. She joined the likes of Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams.

Roger Federer won the Stockholm Open to tie the legendary Pete Sampras for his 64th career title. He beat German Florian Mayer in straight sets 6-4. 6-3. He will need another 13 titles to tie John McEnroe who had 77 titles. The Stockholm Open victory is just the third title won by Federer this year. It has been a year full of challenges for him as he lost his grip on his No. 1 ranking to Spain’s Rafael Nadal. His victory was also his 50th win of the year making him the first player since Sampras to have 50 wins in the tennis tour for 9 straight seasons.

Nadal easily beat Mikhail Youzhny to enter his first finals of the U.S. Open. He can complete his career Grand Slam if he beats Djokovic. Rafa hasn’t lost a set in this years U.S. Open.

caloycomment: It would have been great to see the dream match-up in the finals but Novak deserves his place in the finals. Hopefully he can be competitive enough to show the people that he has what it takes to deny Rafa, who looks set to dominate tennis for years. Rafa in 4 sets… unless, Novak quits in 2. ;)